LETTER: MMBC does not fall under the purview of the provincial Auditor General

It is important to clarify a few points in the article “NDP demands audit of Multi-Material BC” from November 26, 2014. Multi-Material BC (MMBC) is an industry-led, non-profit agency that assumed responsibility for residential curbside, multi-family, and depot recycling programs in many areas across BC in May 2014 as a result of changes made to the provincial Recycling Regulation to shift responsibility for end-of-life management of packaging and printed paper from governments and their taxpayers to the businesses that produce these materials.

MMBC does not fall under the purview of the provincial Auditor General because MMBC was neither created nor appointed by the BC government and MMBC is not funded by the BC government or taxpayers.

MMBC is accountable to the commitments made in its stewardship plan approved by the Ministry of Environment and will issue an a third-party-audited annual report by July 1, 2015, per the Recycling Regulation.

In terms of the program’s success, over 1,000 companies have now signed onto MMBC as stewards, and the fees that stewards pay have allowed MMBC to provide recycling services to over 1.25 million British Columbian households.

At the same time, MMBC has standardized the materials accepted for recycling and added many materials that previously were excluded from residential recycling programs, including empty aerosol containers, plastic foam packaging, plastic plant pots, paper coffee cups, plastic or paper cold drink cups, and milk cartons.

As we look forward to 2015, MMBC already has over 70 collectors on a waiting list to be included in our program and will expand to more communities as additional businesses join and their added fees increase the funds available to finance program expansion.